A Catch Up Post

I'm sorry that my last few posts have been a bit sporadic! As I wrote in my latest post, I am now in the central highlands. We started this excursion in Da Nang where we visited the Marble Mountain pagoda. We then spent a few days in Hoi An. Because of the massive rains on the first day, we had to postpone our trip to the Champa ruins. We actually got nearly to the ancient site but the road was completely flooded and locals standing outside warned us we would not be able to make it back if we crossed. We ended up having more time to shop and moved the trip to the ruins and the Champa museum until the next day. We are now in the ancient city of Hue where we have had a chance to visit the imperial court of emperors from the 13^th century, various tombs along the Perfume River from this historical time period, and having seminars at the local university about sustainable tourism in Vietnam.

Traveling back in time a few days, I wanted to update my blog on my HCMC home stay period, which has just ended before this excursion. The first weekend we had free since arriving in Vietnam I spent with my family (this was last weekend). I slept in a bit on Saturday morning and decided to opt for yoga instead of running in the park, which turned into heat yoga after about five minutes of no air conditioning! I went downstairs to find Mrs. Dung stirring spaghetti with chopsticks on the small one coil stovetop. Phuong, Lin, and Mrs. Dung and I had breakfast of spaghetti and meat sauce sitting together in our pajamas. The pace of life in HCMC is so fast that moments like these where people just sit in their pajamas and slow down rarely happen, if ever. I've learned how to appreciate them.

At breakfast, Mrs. Dung asked me if I liked grocery shopping and realizing she was probably asking me if I wanted to accompany her on her grocery trip, I jumped on it. We left after breakfast and hopped on her motorbike in the already insane heat and traffic, both of which are routine parts of daily life in the city. As we drove through multiple traffic circles swarming with motorbikes and down busy streets and alleyways, I kept thinking to myself that I did not know how all the groceries were going to fit on this small bike already full with two people. Images of Costco and the weekly shopping trips many Americans do came to mind, but this world of excess and overconsumption was so opposite and foreign to the situation I was in that this comparison was almost impossible to make. I've become one of those motorbike riders who does not like to talk during the ride (some people consider motorbike rides a time to have in depth conversations, something I can never really understand when you are simultaneously balancing, holding on, praying for your life, and looking around you). I broke my tendencies on that ride to the CO-OP and asked my host mom how we would fit a week's worth of groceries but she just laughed and said she would show me. And she did – we ended up tying the two bags to the bike and holding the bags in with our feet. I guess the most striking part of this experience was not fitting the groceries on the motorbike but seeing how much she bought, or rather how little, she bought for her family for a week. We spent nearly two hours in the jam-packed grocery store pushing our way through people with our cart. Keep in mind that the size of shopping carts in this country are pretty much equal to those kid-carts in America, just a little taller. We went up and down every aisle and talked about all the types of foods and ways to prepare them. Mrs. Dung showed me her favorite brands, her favorite vegetables and fruits, how to find the most ripe fruits etc. We chose between different dish soaps and brands of cheese and spent a fair amount of time in the lotion and sunscreen aisle, making note of the differences between Vietnam and America. For example, here all the SPF's are over 80 because it is favorable to have light skin here. Also, all the lotions and face washes are "whitening" rather than the tanning or darkening lotions that stock the shelves in the stores in America. I'm going to stay away from that whitening lotion concept… Also, the majority of our time was spent in the meat section. Believe it or not, the meat counter OPENS FROM THE CUSTOMER SIDE here. That means that all the people pushing and shoving for specific types of meat are also sticking their hands inside the meat counter as they carefully examine one piece of red meat from the other. Then they take their hands out (no washing obviously) and proceed onward with their grocery shopping. This blew my mind. After packing up our motorbike and balancing our feet over the bags of groceries (only two bags filled 75% with produce and 25% cheese, meats, and noodles), we headed home and cooked a huge feast of fish, rice, and Hanoi sour soup for lunch. During the chaos inside the grocery store and during the ride home, I had one of my "I'm in Vietnam" moments. These are moments I get when I realize what I'm doing here is so extreme, so incredible, so much fun, and just in general makes me so happy. I hope these moments never go away over the next three months, but judging by the trends so far, it's not looking like they will!

That night the people from my group met up and went out for Danielle's 21^st birthday. The best part of the weekend was the next day – we spent the entire day at Long Hai beach enjoying the absolutely incredible views, large rocks on the beach, calm waters, very few people, and relaxation (plus some homework too). Speaking of homework, I've really started improving my VN language skills! Since we have had three hours of class a day, I can actually speak sentences, pronounce words, and understand too! The language is sounding less like sounds and more like words, which is actually really awesome. In terms of other classes, the seminars have been great. We have had a chance to hear lectures from so many reputable people in Vietnam, including one seminar by the head of the Fulbright Center in HCMC who had just delivered the same lecture about Economics in Vietnam to the Prime Minister earlier that week.

It was really sad ending my home stay, which once again reiterated to me how quickly this experience is going by! At our last family dinner, Mr. and Ms. Dung and I sat at the table after dinner for about an hour discussing issues relating to Vietnam's development and culture, such as the differences in Northern Vietnamese culture and southern culture, education systems, economics, and health issues in particular. Because my host mother and host father both work in academia and my mom's English is excellent, we were able to have such deep, insightful conversations after every dinner. Usually it's just my mom and me sitting on the red plastic stools eating the remaining food, picking off small ants (and putting them in the designated ant bowl, because yes that did exist in my family. It was a small bowl in the center of the table that was understood as the "place to dispose of ants you fish out of your soup"). After ten minutes or so of discussion each night, Mrs. Dung and I moved onto eating dessert, which was always some kind of fruit. The last few evenings it has been soft, red persimmons that look like small roma tomatoes on the outside and are soft and insanely sweet on the inside. On my last night my host dad took a huge pomello from the small Buddhist shrine in the living room and showed me how to peel the tick skin with a knife in one long, winding peel. I'm glad I finally know how to peel them!

Even though the food and physical conditions of my home stay were much less ideal than anyone else's in my group, these after dinner conversations I had each night are some of the most valuable memories I will take away from my Vietnam experience as a whole. On my last morning with the family, I even learned how to make pho from my host mom! She knows how much I love her beef pho, so she taught me how to make it the way she does. You know you are in VN when the first step in a recipe is "soak pig bones in water." In any event, it was really fun to do and great to write a recipe from actual cooking rather than from a published, American recipe book. The entire recipe lacks any exact measurements such as one cup of this or 200 grams of that. Instead, the portions of every ingredient are written in the recipe as they relate to the other ingredients. Mrs. Dung even bought me the small seasoning cubes so that I can bring them home and make pho when I return to the states.

In general, my home stay period living with the Dungs has taught me so much about the Vietnamese people in particular through the lens of Mrs. Dungs own life in particular. I have also gained knowledge on so many small mannerisms and behaviors that I now have learned to incorporate into my life and which help me to fit in better with the culture here. I have also really become a part of the family. They invited me to live with them when I return to HCMC and they welcome my parents and sister to visit them when they arrive in Vietnam. It's hard to describe a relationship like this with another family than my own because it's something I have not experienced until this point. But because of the hospitality of my family and their openness to learn and make me feel welcome, I feel like I can return to VN anytime in my life and have a welcoming place to say. It's a great feeling!